IB TOK class: Workers demand gig economy companies explain their algorithms
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
This article picked by a teacher with suggested questions is part of the Financial Times free schools access programme. Details/registration here.
Specification:
IB DP TOK themes & AOKs Technology, Human sciences
Relevant BQ Perspectives, Values
Key terms and ideas Truth, Secret, The system, Kafkaesque, Algorithmic management practices, Open and transparent
Investigating Issues AI
Click to read the article below and then answer the questions:
Workers demand gig economy companies explain their algorithms
Although the focus of this article is on business, the use of algorithms impacts on almost every aspect of life, so exploring how significant decisions are made by artificial intelligence programs is of huge importance and relevance.
What is going on, and why are many workers of companies such as Uber, Amazon, Glovo and Deliveroo unhappy?
What are the moral implications of machines making decisions with no human agency involved?
Does this herald the beginning of even more important decisions made automatically — such as ambulances sent (or not sent) to our houses?
What aspects of life — both within business and beyond it — should remain in the hands of humans?
Can we call something ‘knowledge’ when no human can explain how it has been produced?
Going further Check out the primary Exploration Points document here, and investigate this issue here.
Michael Dunn, theoryofknowledge.net
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